Airstrikes on Ukrainian Energy Infrastructure Leave 850,000 Without Power

Overnight airstrikes targeting Ukrainian infrastructure left more than 850,000 people without electricity across several regions of the country. Ukrainian energy operator DTEK reported that facilities in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region came under attack, cutting power to over 600,000 residents in the city of Dnipro as well as the Pavlohrad, Samar, and Kamianske districts. Local officials later stated that power restoration in the affected areas was underway.

Additional disruptions were reported in northeastern and northwestern Ukraine. Authorities in Kharkiv Oblast said approximately 250,000 customers temporarily lost electricity before service was restored. In Zhytomyr Oblast, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that a strike damaged local heating infrastructure, leaving 140 apartment buildings without heating. In a separate strike on a residential area in Dnipro on Sunday, one person was killed and three others were injured, according to Oleksandr Hanzha, head of the regional military administration.

According to figures released by Zelenskyy, Russian forces have launched 115 missiles, nearly 1,900 guided aerial bombs, and more than 3,000 attack drones over the course of the past week. Ukrainian officials stated that the focus of these strikes has once again shifted toward the national power grid as winter approaches. Russia has not commented on the latest figures or the specific targets of the strikes.

Emergency operations were also affected in the Zaporizhzhia region. Zelenskyy stated on Sunday that a drone strike targeted a rescue site in Komyshuvakha, where emergency personnel were searching through rubble following a bombing earlier in the week that killed at least 55 people. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine stated that its workers were targeted while conducting search operations, though no injuries were reported from the drone attack.

The earlier bombing in Komyshuvakha had hit a school building that Ukrainian authorities stated was being used for humanitarian purposes. That attack occurred shortly after a localized truce allowed civilians to evacuate from the Russian-controlled town of Oleshky in the southern Kherson region. Zelenskyy stated that the escalated bombardments represent an effort by Moscow to exert pressure on Kyiv ahead of scheduled trilateral talks involving Ukraine, Russia, and the United States in Abu Dhabi.

Written by Martina Kirchner martina.kirchner@alpineweekly.com